1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an iron silicide thermoelectric conversion element, and more particulaly to a thermoelectric conversion element wherein a part of one of components of iron silicide forming the element is substituted by oxygen atom to provide the element with p-type or n-type conductivity as desired.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Seebeck effect is widely known in the art as a phenomenon that when the joint between two kinds of materials joined to each other is heated, electric energy is generated at the ends of a lower temperature in the joined materials.
There have been conventionally found a lot of thermoelectric material which can exhibit such Seebeck effect. Unfortunately, the conventional materials are substantially inferior in conversion efficiency. Thus, the materials have not been put in practical use as an energy conversion element, for example, for converting solar heat energy into electric energy.
The inventors made an effort to develop a thermoelectric material of high conversion efficiency to effectively utilize solar energy or various types of waste heat energy, and found that an amorphous film of a compound mainly consisting of iron and silicon exhibits thermoelectric conversion efficiency sufficient to be used as a thermoelectric conversion element. However, the compound is not adapted to provide a thermoelectric conversion element of which conductivity is artificially controlled.